In the short story “A & P” by John Updike the main character goes through a transition from adolescence into adulthood. Throughout this story, one perceives Sammy’s transition of the recognition of his own adolescence into the world of adulthood, where he begins to take responsibility for his own actions. In the beginning of the story, Sammy reacts to certain situations as any other teenage boy would, but at the story’s conclusion, there is a noticeable change in Sammy’s character and in his point of view, which leads the reader to believe that he has grown up.
Sammy’s attitude in the first half of “A & P” is that of any other young and naïve teenage boy, and his reactions to situations which occur show his adolescent perspective. Sammy is distract
ed by “three girls in nothing but bathing suits” who come walking into the store (##). As the girls make their way through the store, Sammy cannot keep his attention focused on his job because he continually watches as Queenie “walk[s] straight on slowly, on these long white prima-donna legs” (344). Sammy takes a look at his life and current situation, and from where he stands at this moment, he does not have a high opinion of himself. He starts by comparing what he perceives to be the family life of Queenie to that of his own. It seems that his perception of his family puts him in a lower social class than Queenie’s. He describes how Queenie’s parents would serve “drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them. When [his] parents have
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